Uutoni calls for peace

Minister of Sport Erastus Uutoni is urging sport administrators to settle their differences in order to develop sport in the country. Uutoni's remarks come in the wake of the ongoing chaos in Namibian football. The Namibia Premier League (NPL) has been on a halt since last year with no clear indication when it will start again. League officials and the Fifa normalisation committee (NC) will meet in the Supreme Court this week as the suspended NPL seeks reinstatement. Uutoni however advised those at loggerheads to seek peace and allow the beautiful game to be played. “There are no more football matches and income for the premier league players.“People are busy fighting for positions, while the players are hungry. “People must learn to control their anger because it is affecting others,” Uutoni said. As things stand, MTC has indicated that it may not continue with its sponsorship after the 2019/20 season, which is yet to kick off, comes to an end. MTC and FNB Namibia sponsor the league to the tune of N$15 million and N$5 million respectively per year.The telecommunication giant has injected close to N$133 million into the league since 2001. The league has been plagued by ongoing clashes between NPL bosses and the NC over promotions and relegations. The country's first division streams failed to kick off last season, which meant there were no teams to promote.Orlando Pirates and Civics were relegated from the NPL at the end of last season, while Young Africa were demoted for fielding a foreign player registered under a fake name.The league administrators demanded that the 2019/20 season kicks off without the relegated clubs, while the NC maintained that there will be no promotion and thus the relegated clubs must be included in the 2019/20 campaign. All these squabbles led to the suspension of the league by the NC – a decision the league is challenging in court. As things stand, two of the Namibia Football Association (NFA) presidential race rejects Mpasi Haingura and Patrick Kauta are prepared to file an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) if internal remedies fail. Kauta and Haingura were among six candidates who failed the NC's credibility checks during the vetting process of 10 nominated candidates for the NFA hot seat. The minister believes that MTC's decision to withdraw was prompted by the infighting which has engulfed Namibian football. “Here we are fighting to attract sponsors in sport but some are chasing them away. “The fact that there are people who can't settle their differences out of the courts has become worrying.” Despite these challenges, Uutoni re-affirmed government's commitment towards building a winning sporting nation. Jesse Jackson Kauraisa

Uutoni calls for peace

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Namibian Sun 2026-09-17

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Uutoni calls for peace

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Namibian Sun 2026-09-17

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